The Way We Are (part 5 of 20)

An Unexpected Gift

I was currently on my way to Shizuru’s dorm for a last minute study session, the chilling wind whipping against me as I zoomed down the city streets on my bike. The tight leather of my biker suit helped to shield me some, but the cruel winter air still bit at my skin, and in turn I pushed my bike faster despite the fact that I was approaching a sharp curve. I had a bad habit of doing that…putting myself in unnecessary dangerous situations. Some might say I lived life on the edge or that I just didn’t care about what happened to me…I’d say it was a combination of the two.

Maybe I was just being overconfident about my own abilities. Ever since that night at the school when I first discovered my powers, I had felt stronger than I ever had before in my entire life. On top of that, my body was in the best shape that it had ever been in as well. I’d even go as far as to say that I was more trained and toned than a majority of the athletes at any of the Fuuka Academy schools. Unfortunately this became known to many of the other students during my P.E. class and as a result, thanks to the word of mouth, almost all of the sports clubs had come to me asking for me to join their team. Even some of the high school teams tried to talk to me. I turned them all down, of course. I didn’t have the time for any extracurricular activities, but to be perfectly honest with myself, I think deep down I was truly curious about actually joining one of them. Who knew, maybe I would one of these days.

Speaking of the night I first awakened, since that time I had summoned Duran on one occasion when I was in danger. I ran into a creature, a monster really, that tried to attack me one night when I was out snooping around the Academy. I assume this happened because I was a HiME, but I wasn’t entirely positive of this theory at the time. When the thing appeared, I was quick to call upon my child. We fought side by side, complementing each other in a way I never though possible by two separate beings. It was amazing…like Duran knew exactly what I was thinking...The silver wolf and I, we were truly connected.

Sometimes I would call him when I rode at night, Duran’s lithe metal body following in perfect stride with my roaring vehicle. No matter how fast I went, he always kept up. Whenever a car approached, he was quick to disappear. He was an impressively powerful and intelligent creature. Just having him around was comforting, especially during those times I felt exceptionally lonely. Tonight wasn’t one of those nights though.

It was amazing how much I had opened up to Shizuru…well, it was a lot for me anyway. It happened gradually, but she just had a way about her. That comforting nature she possessed...it was exactly what I was missing in my life. Maybe that’s why I was so drawn to her. Sure she was annoying sometimes, especially with her constant teasing, but I think that was just one of her ways of showing that she cared. And it was nice knowing that someone cared…it was inexpressively nice…but at the same time it scared me. With these new powers that I possessed, I was in danger. Because I was in danger that put anyone I was around in danger. Who knew what these First District people were capable of…and then there were the monsters that would randomly appear…I had to be careful for my, and more importantly, Shizuru’s sake.

It had been kind of late when I called her asking for help, but Shizuru had still agreed to assist me with my studying. I wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t necessary. I had a test the next day, and my tests were the only thing keeping me out of trouble for my slacking attendance record. The teachers couldn’t complain as long as I was passing their classes, right?

Quickly shutting off my bike, I hastily tore my helmet from my head and locked it away in the storage compartment of my bike before grabbing my math book and sprinting towards the front entrance of the building. With equal endeavor I bounded up the small set of stairs leading to the second floor, and once I had made my way to Shizuru’s room, I quietly knocked on the door. It didn’t take long before the girl appeared before me.

“Natsuki, come in.”

I did so immediately, welcoming the warm air of her room with open arms, “God, it’s cold out there.”

“Indeed, it hasn’t been this cold in the past couple of years,” Shizuru replied after she had promptly shut and locked the door.

She was already adorned in her pajamas, a pastel violet robe that reminded me more of a kimono than PJs. Her hair was slightly messy, and I noticed that her bed wasn’t exactly made.

I hope I didn’t wake her up…

“Would you like some tea to warm you up?”

“That’d be great. I’m going to change out of this suit before I do anything though.”

I watched as Shizuru walked over to the kitchen and began busying herself with making the tea before placing my book on the table and heading over to her closet. Ever since I had bought my motorcycle, I was sure to keep a few changes of extra clothing at her place. Peeling the leather suit from my body, I was clad in only my undergarments for a few moments before slipping into a pair of sleek navy pajama bottoms and a mock jersey t-shirt with blue and white striped sleeves and a number eight plastered on the back.

Now that I was in something more comfortable, I made my way back over to the table, and after sitting down, I reluctantly opened my algebra book. I began reading, but eventually I averted my eyes to Shizuru whose back still faced me as she prepared our drinks.

“Sorry for calling so late…It was kind of an emergency.”

“Ara, don’t apologize, Natsuki. I’m here to help you whenever you need me,” she turned to look at me, leaning back against the counter after she did so, “Don’t ever hesitate to call...for anything.”

Her words caused a genuine smile to appear on my face, “Thanks, Shizuru. I really do appreciate it.”

Looking back down at my book, my expression changed to one of complete annoyance, “Now if I can only comprehend these damn trigonometric equations…”

I heard Shizuru quietly chuckle at my frustration as she walked over towards the table, leaning over me to look at my book.

“Hmm…It doesn’t look too bad.”

“Easy for you to say, you’ve already taken this stuff.”

“I’m sure we can figure it out,” she reassured me with a light pat on the head as she made her way back over to the kitchen to take care of the whistling kettle. I huffed at her little show of affection as I stared at my book again.

As I stared to write down the first equation, she returned to the table with two mugs of hot tea. Setting them down in front of me, she circled the table to come take a seat beside me.

“So, where do we begin?”

An hour and two cups of tea later we had gone through all of the questions on the page. They ranged from easy to hard, but with Shizuru’s patience and assistance, I worked through all of them.

“Huh, that wasn’t so hard after all.” I stated, putting down my pencil after completing the last equation.

“See? Nothing—“ the chestnut haired girl was interrupted by a long yawn, “—to it.”

I looked over at the clock to see that it was already past one in the morning, “Oi, I didn’t mean to keep you up so late…”

“Mmh, don’t worry about it,” Shizuru answered with a small shake of her head, but I could blatantly see the exhaustion in her eyes.

“Well, I’ll get out of your hair so you can get some sleep,” I said as I began to stand.

“I can’t let you go out at this hour…plus it’s freezing outside,” she protested as she stood as well. I noticed that I had grown slightly since the first time we met as she now only had an inch or so on me in height. Elsewhere…well, let’s just say I had some more growing to do…

“Then what am I supposed to do?” I questioned her.

“Stay here for the night. There is an extra bed, you know.”

“I don’t want to be any trouble…”

“You will be if you keep arguing with me.” Shizuru sternly answered.

“But—”

“Don’t!” she threatened, placing her index finger against my lips, silencing me immediately.

I gave her a defeated look and mumbled a consent, which only caused her to beam triumphantly, “Good. Now, off to bed with you.”

Shizuru proceeded to usher me over to one of the beds, and once there I was promptly shoved down onto the mattress. I squinted my eyes at her back as she turned around to her closet.

I can’t believe she’s treating me like a kid…

Spinning back around, Shizuru tossed a blanket in my direction, and I snatched the thing from mid-air with one hand.

“Just in case,” she told me as she turned on her lamp.

My eyes follow her as she glided over to the door and flipped the switch beside it causing the room to darken significantly, the soft glow from the lamp being the only source of light now.

Once she was back at her bed, Shizuru gracefully slipped under the covers. I was quick to follow suit.

“Goodnight, Natsuki. If you need anything, just wake me up, alright?”

“Okay.”

I heard the quiet‘click’ of the lamp being turned off before the room became completely dark. It was followed by the sound of ruffling sheets before everything became silent once again.

I lied in that unfamiliar bed for several minutes just staring up at the ceiling, but the sound of more rustling from the bed to my right caused me to turn my head in the direction. I could see Shizuru staring at me thanks to the moonlight that was filtering through the blinds hanging over the windows at the heads of both beds.

“Wh-What?” I managed to sputter somewhat nervously.

“Nothing…it’s just that no one’s ever spent the night here before.”

“Oh...I’m sorry?”

She laughed at me quietly, causing that familiar pink to appear on my cheeks.

Silence.

“Hey, Natsuki?”

“Yeah?”

“What are your parents like?”

The question caught me off guard, and I shifted onto my elbows to look at her more intently. She returned my gaze, head still resting on her pillow, a look of absolute seriousness on her face. I had never talked about my parents to anyone before, but that look in her eyes…

I dropped myself back down onto the soft cushiony mattress with a sigh. Staring up at the ceiling again, I remained quiet for a time before finally speaking.

“…Mom…mom was always so smart. I couldn’t understand her sometimes, she always liked to use big words…but I knew she loved me. She was never the ‘ideal mom,’ you know, cooking and cleaning and all that…She was always working it seemed, but she always let me stay around her even when she was busy.”

“…And your father?”

“Dad was never around too much. He flew around the world dealing with business and the like…We always had fun when he was around though. He’s the one who taught me how to ride a motorcycle…He always loved bikes. I guess I got that from him…”

“Where are they now?”

Silence.

“…Mom…died…a few years ago…and dad, heh, who knows with him.”

“I’m sorry…”

After a small bout of silence, Shizuru let out a curt bittersweet laugh, “I guess we both have family issues, huh?”

“Yeah…” I turned to look over at her, “Why do you ask?”

This time, she looked up to the ceiling, “I was debating whether or not I should go home for the winter break.”

“Back to Kyoto?”

“Mmh.”

Another silence.

“You said you hadn’t been back since you first came here, right?”

“Yes.”

“…Well, that’s a decision you have to make for yourself,” she turned to look at me as I continued, “You can’t run away from things forever.”

I caught a glimpse of her familiar smile in the moonlight, “You’re right…Thanks, Natsuki.”

And at that, the ruby eyed girl turned over onto her side and fell asleep, me following her example soon after.

The familiar beeping of my alarm clock woke me from my peaceful slumber. I blindly smacked the thing to make it stop as I heard a groggy groan come from the bed beside my own. It took a moment for my still groggy mind to piece it all together.

That’s right, Natsuki stayed over…

I managed to pull myself into an upright sitting position as I glanced over at the lump in the other bed. It wasn’t moving. I rolled my eyes, the action being followed by an unrestrained yawn.

“Come on, Natsuki. We need to get up.”

Silence.

“Natsuki?”

Still no response.

A playful, albeit lazy, grin appeared on my face as a plan to wake the sleeping biker was weaved in my cruel little brain. It was amazing how those evil cogs could turn this easily so early in the morning…I threw the covers to the side as I pulled my legs up to my chest. I took a second to position myself and gain my balance, and then…

Pounce!

“Ahh! Wha—! Sh-Shizu—?!”

I landed on top of Natsuki quite ungracefully, the raven-haired girl jolting at the initial contact.

She surely didn’t see that coming.

“Good morning, Natsuki,” I greeted as casually as ever despite being sprawled across her.

She pushed me off, and I shifted the rest of the way so I was no longer pinning her down.

“What was that for?” she questioned me as she sat up while blinking rapidly, obviously still stunned from the rude awakening.

After propping my head up with one hand, I shoved a finger on the other into her forehead, “YOU wouldn’t get up.”

“And so you jumped on me?!” she asked, taking a hold of my wrist to pull my finger away from her.

I shrugged, “I tried calling Natsuki’s name, but you never answered. I feared for the worst…I had to make sure you were still alive.”

“And I guess a gentle shake of my shoulder was totally out of the question…” she sarcastically retorted.

I simply smiled at her as I sat up, “I think we both know that wouldn’t have worked. Natsuki was sleeping so soundly, just like a baby…and just as cute.”

Her eyes widened at my last statement, cheeks flushing vibrantly, “Don’t say things like that! Eh!”

I notice her eyes fall to my chest before quickly darting away, and after following their gaze, I saw just why the girl had reacted the way she did. Apparently my robe had slipped down slightly after my little stunt revealing the top of my ample bosom.

Opportunity…

“Mou, Natsuki doesn’t like what she sees?” I playfully inquired with a tiny pout.

The girl shook her head violently back and forth, the color in her face taking on a new shade of red as she quickly retreated from the bed. I mentally chuckled at the sight.

Ah, Natsuki…such a prude…It’s not like you could actually see anything…

I pulled the soft cloth back over my shoulders before getting off of the bed myself. “Well, now that we’re both up, how about some breakfast?”

“I-I really should be leaving…” Natsuki replied, still refusing to look at me.

“Already?” I sounded like a complaining child.

“Yeah, my uniform is at my apartment anyway, I need to go get it.”

“And will you actually come to school after doing that?”

She glowered at me slightly before snapping her answer, “Yes.”

I let out a disheartened sigh, “Ara…I guess I can’t stop you then. I guess I’ll talk to you later?”

She seemed to relax again.

“Mmh,” she nodded at me, our eyes meeting, “Mind if I use your bathroom first though?”

I motioned for her to go ahead, and watched as she retrieved her leather biker suit from my closet before entering the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I took this opportunity to change into my school uniform, and not too soon after I had finished, Natsuki emerged from around the corner and placed her spare pajamas back into my closet.

“Well, I’m off.”

I looked up at her from my seat on the bed where I was currently pulling up my socks, “Alright. Drive safely, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said with a flick of her hand as she collected her things.

“Good luck with the test!” I called after her as she headed out the door, and I smiled as I heard the bike outside come to life and sped off down the road a few minutes later.

That girl…

It was lunchtime and Natsuki and I were meeting at our alternate secret spot near the top of the stairway leading to the roof since it was too cold to eat outside in the garden now. We generally made it a custom to meet here for lunch at least on Fridays. We never knew if we would see each other on the weekends, so meeting now only made sense. I’m still not exactly sure how she managed to slip into the high school unnoticed…Even on the Fridays she didn’t come to school, I would always find her here come lunchtime. It made me happy to see her keep that promise despite what she had been doing outside of school.

Actually, we had been seeing a lot less of each other in the past month, but Natsuki assured me that it wasn’t anything personal, she just had a lot of things going on. Of course, “a lot of things” was never given any specific details, but I decided it would be best not to push the subject. Instead I would enjoy the time that we did get to spend together, especially since she seemed to be talking more and more when we did meet up. We were continuing to become more natural around each other, and I was quite pleased about that improvement.

Lowering herself to the concrete steps, Natsuki took the maroon bento from my outstretched hands. It had also become custom for me to make her lunch on the days I knew we would be meeting. She had protested at first, not wanting to be a bother as she always said, but I of course was successful in winning that battle. I rather enjoyed getting to make lunch for Natsuki. It was just another little thing I could do for her. Plus I enjoyed seeing her face light up as she ate the food I delicately prepared for her.

The girl before me smirked slightly as she opened the box, “I think I did alright. I always seem to have uncanny luck when it comes to tests…generally not math ones, but I think today was one of the rare exceptions.”

“I think you don’t give yourself enough credit,” I said, tapping her on the head with one of my chopsticks. “You’re smarter than you think.”

She blushed slightly as she took a piece of fish between her utensils, “Yeah, maybe. And what about you? You haven’t been falling asleep in class today because of me, have you?”

“Is Natsuki worried about me missing my lessons?” I questioned in a singsong tone.

“Psh. I guess I’ll take that as a no,” Natsuki stated as she placed the fish into her mouth.

I chuckled before digging into my own lunch.

There was a natural silence between us as we both ate, but it didn’t last for too long.

“So, have you thought any more about what we talked about last night?”

“Hmm?”

“About going home.”

“Oh, well, a little,” I answered.

“When is the break anyway?”

“From December twenty-sixth until January sixth, I do believe.”

“So I guess you’d be spending the whole time down there?”

“Maybe…” I eyed her curiously, “Why are you so interested?”

“Just curious. I thought it was pretty important to you, so I should naturally be interested, right?”

I smiled at her innocent honesty. Sure there were still things she withheld from me, and there was still a lot that we didn’t know about each other, but it was moments like this that convinced me that we truly were friends. Our friendship might not match what others might deem normal, but that didn’t matter to me. Time. That was all we needed. One day I knew that we would know each other just as well as we knew ourselves. I didn’t care if our relationship wasn’t like anyone else’s, in fact, I didn’t want it to be. What Natsuki and I had was something special, unique…something deeper than a mere friendship. At least, that’s what I felt in my heart.

I wonder if you feel the same?

“Well, I still have a little time to decide.”

“Yeah.”

“And what do you plan to do?” I turned the interrogation her way.

“The usual. Exercise, research…maybe an overnight trip.”

“Trip? To where?”

She sent me that look telling me to stop with my questions now. I released an agitated sigh, actually letting some emotion shine through my usually calm demeanor.

It was tough just sitting around not knowing what it was Natsuki was doing in her free time. It especially made it hard when she would disappear and show up a couple of days later with a battered and bandaged body. It made my heart ache to see her like that, but I knew better than to ask what had happened because I knew I would never get a straight and honest answer. I knew that one day all would be clear between us…that we would reach a day where we would hold nothing back from the other and have no secrets…Now it was only a matter of waiting for that day to come, but oh how I hated waiting when it came to Natsuki.

But I’ll hold on if it’s for you, Natsuki…only you…

The lunch break was over far too soon, and at the sound of the bell, we reluctantly placed the tops back on our bentos. Natsuki handed hers back to me, and I slipped the now empty box into my bag beside my own vacant bento.

We continued our conversation as we made our way back down the few flights of stairs.

“You have any plans for the weekend?” she questioned me.

“Not really, mainly just studying for the end of term exams. You?”

“Oh, you know, this and that,” she replied, dodging my question as usual.

“And some studying too…” she quickly added.

“You’d better be, I don’t want any last minute study secessions for the exams.”

Her face crumbled, “B-But you said…”

“Just kidding,” I reassured her with a smile and a small poke to the ribs that caused her to flinch, “If Natsuki needs help, then help she’ll get. And don’t worry, it’s not any trouble either.”

She seemed satisfied, and relieved, with my response, “Well, don’t be surprised if I show up at your door at some ungodly hour in the morning…and I don’t want to hear any complaints so you’d best remember your words, Shizuru.”

“Natsuki at my door is the best surprise I could ever receive, and I would certainly never complain about spending time with her.”

“Bah!” the raven-haired girl exclaimed, waving me off as her cheeks flared.

I chuckled to myself as we exited the stairwell, letting my eyes linger on her retreating back as she snuck back to the middle school for the remainder of the day.

“So, guess what I heard.”

Here comes another stupid rumor…

“Hm? What?”

“Rumor has it that Miss Fujino-san’s birthday is next Wednesday.”

…

“Really? How did you find that out?”

Wha…

“I overheard some of the high schoolers talking about it this morning.”

It’s…Shizuru’s…

“Ooo wow, Fujino-san is so amazing…so how old is she going to be?”

...birthday?

“I’m not sure. She’s a 2nd year, so she’s bound to be like 15 or 16.”

…it’s 16.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I wonder what kind of presents she’s going to get?”

…Shizuru…

“Whatever she wants I’m sure. I mean, her family is pretty well off from what I’ve heard.”

…but they’re not around…

“Yeah, and with a daughter like that I’m sure her parent’s just drown her in praise and gifts. I certainly would.”

What do you know...

“Me too. I wish I could just be half as talented as Fujino-san.”

You don’t know Shizuru…

“Don’t we all?”

The two girls burst into a fit of giggles, but they were soon interrupted by our teacher entering the room, silence taking over as she commanded us to settle down so she could begin her lesson. She began teaching, but I was certainly not paying attention.

Wednesday…the 19th? December 19th? So that’s her birthday…She didn’t say anything about it…of course she didn’t say anything about it, stupid, nobody goes around boasting about their own birthday…But now that I do know, I should get her something...I want to get her something, but…I’ve never got a present for anyone before…I don’t know what she’d want…

…

…

Shit.

I was miserable, absolutely miserable. And frustrated. I was a whole lot of that too.

I had just got back to my apartment after an entire afternoon of shopping, and I didn’t have a present for Shizuru to show for it. On top of that, I still didn’t even have the slightest idea of what to get her.

Why do I have to be so bad at these kinds of things?!

I continued pacing back in forth in my living room trying to think of something…anything.

“Bah!” I exclaimed as I threw myself down onto the couch. I snatched up the remote and violently mashed the ‘Power’ button.

Maybe some ad will come on and give me an idea.

I watched the damn thing for five straight hours.

I still didn’t have a clue.

It was tomorrow. Shizuru’s birthday was tomorrow. TO-MOR-ROW. I was officially freaking out.

Two full days had just passed me by. I don’t know where the time went.

Sunday I was exercising. My mind always worked better when I was exercising. I worked to my complete and utter exhaustion. I was still sore all over from it. So how come I still hadn’t come up with any ideas on a present for Shizuru?

I somehow managed to avoid her Monday at school. If I had seen her, if we had talked, I probably would have blurted out my irritation to her face. And that wouldn’t have been good, not good at all. Unfortunately I wasn’t as lucky today.

“Natsuki!” I heard the familiar Kyoto-ben accent call out my name as I was walking to school.

Oh no…

I turned to see the chestnut haired beauty waving at me as she walked in my direction.

“Sh-Shizuru, hey…”

“I didn’t see you at school yesterday…I thought you were trying to do better about actually attending class.”

Just stay calm…

“Huh? Oh, well, something came up.”

She cocked her head to the side, “I see…Anyway, are you busy after school?”

I need to get out of here…

“Yeah, sort of. Sorry.”

“Oh,” she looked slightly disappointed before slipping back into her usual cheery self, “Well, I guess it wasn’t anything all that important...”

Now…

“Eh, sorry, but I’ve got to go. See ya!”

“A-Alright…bye…” I heard her say to me, confusion evident in her tone.

Sorry, Shizuru…

I lied in bed staring blankly up at the ceiling before eventually managing to turn my head to look at the clock.

3:31 AM

I mumbled an inaudible curse as I returned to my previous position.

I can’t believe I still haven’t got her anything. Shizuru deserves SOMETHING. She deserves something special…and it’s supposed to be the thought that counts, isn’t it? She doesn’t even have her family around to celebrate with her…Birthdays are supposed to be special, right? Will she not feel that way since no one’s here for her? But I’m supposed to be here for her…Agh…

I shut my eyes as I shifted my arm over my face to cover them. I stayed there for several minutes before it suddenly hit me. Like a sack of wonderfully heavy bricks it hit me.

I snapped up into a sitting position, “That’s it!”

I bolted out of bed, disregarding the sheets that I inevitably end up dragging with me across the room. I went to my closet, and after flinging the door open, I pulled out a box from the back, leaning over it as I frantically dug through the thing.

“Come on…I know it’s in here…Aha!”

I took the item out, grasping it tightly in my hand, “Now for a box…”

Racing over to the other side of the bedroom, I dug into the various boxes stacked up against the wall from when I first moved in. Inside one of the larger boxes I found one that would work, although it was a little bigger than I needed. To solve that problem, I grabbed one of my old newspapers from earlier this week and stuff a few pages inside. Not having anything to use for wrapping paper, I simply closed the lid and went downstairs to find a piece of twine to tie around it.

Not exactly glamorous, but it’ll have to do.

Placing the box on the counter in the kitchen, I desperately tried to collect my scrambled thoughts, “Clothes…need to change clothes.”

I rushed back upstairs and over to my closet and began shifting through all the articles inside.

It’s gonna be cold out there…I hope she won’t mind.

I grabbed a pair of jeans and a couple of shirts to layer on top of one another. After changing out of my pajamas, I took my heavy grey coat with the fur around the hood along with my navy scarf and gloves.

I was halfway down the stairs before I stopped, “Blankets…”

I quickly retrieved two of them from the top shelf in my closet before once again going back to the bottom floor and stacking them next to Shizuru’s present.

“Now for some snacks.”

I found a plastic grocery bag and proceed to throw a couple of packaged bean paste breads inside.

Hopefully she eats those…Everyone likes those things, right?

I quickly prepared some hot chocolate, pouring the steaming liquid into two thermoses and making sure the tops were screwed on tight before placing them in the plastic bag as well.

After doing a quick once over, I grabbed all the items that I had collected and headed out the door.

“Wha...?” I turned under my sheets, but made no move to actually get up.

After a moment, the noise came again, only louder this time.

“Alright, alright…” I grumbled.

Who could it be this early in the morning?

I dragged myself over to the door. Looking out the peephole, I gasped at what I saw, quickly unlocking and opening the door.

“Natsuki?” I questioned, my voice still containing its drowsiness.

“Come on, Shizuru, you need to get dressed,” she informed me as she barged right past me and into my dorm.

“Huh?” I muttered as I spun around, “What are you talking about?”

She was already at my closet, digging through the contents inside.

I received no response.

“Ara, what are you doing? You sure are acting strange…Do you need help studying or something?”

“No, not now. We have more important things to attend to,” she informed me as she pulled out a pair of my jeans, a couple of shirts, and a sweater, “Here, put these on, it’s pretty cold out there.”

“Natsuki, I…I don’t understand—”

Finally she turned to me, looking me straight in the eyes, “Just do it, Shizuru. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Pointing a finger at me, she continued, “Oh, and you can’t ask any questions. Not yet anyway.”

I noticed an unfamiliar twinkle in her eye…Playfulness maybe? No, more like childish excitement.

Deciding to go along with her little game, I changed into the clothing Natsuki had picked for me as she busied herself elsewhere in my dorm. Once I was finished changing and had slipped into my tan coat, red scarf and matching gloves, we headed out into the chilly darkness of the early morning.

We rode on Natsuki’s motorcycle for about ten minutes before she finally stopped at a roadside cliff. Although I was baffled at our location, I didn’t ask any questions as previously instructed. We dismounted from the bike, and Natsuki helped me climb over the metal railing before vaulting back over it and going back to her bike. I peeked over my shoulder, watching her remove some items out of the back storage compartment of her vehicle before heading back to where I was standing. She set the little pile down and spread out a blanket before motioning to me.

“Sit down.”

I did as she said, and soon after she whipped out another blanket and wrapped it around me, placing one of the ends in my hand as she sat close beside me and kept the other end to herself.

“Phew, I wish it didn’t have to be so cold out,” she declared, pulling the blanket around us tighter before she reached for the bag she brought with her.

I shifted a little bit closer to her.

I certainly don’t mind.

“You hungry?” she asked as she passed me what appeared to be a packaged bean paste bread.

“Thanks,” I said, speaking for the first time since we had left my dorm as I took the item.

She placed one in her lap before pulling out two metal thermoses, “And a little something to warm us up.”

I graciously took one of the cups from her.

“It’s cocoa,” she informed me, “You do drink things other than tea, don’t you?”

“Yes,” I responded to her little jest as I unscrewed the top.

I took a few sips of the thankfully still warm liquid.

That hit the spot.

We were silent for a few minutes as we munched on our little treats and tried to warm ourselves with the cocoa until I finally couldn’t take it anymore.

“So, can I now ask why you woke me up at four-something in the morning to bring me out here in the freezing cold? It wasn’t just to have snack time, was it?”

She remained quiet, a grin quickly spreading across her face.

“Natsuki?”

She turned to her right, and the next thing I knew, there was a small brown box sitting in my lap. I speechlessly blinked at the thing.

“Open it.”

My numb gloved fingers pulled at the twine looped around the box, and it came off quite easily. I lifted the lid, and after removing some of the paper inside, I discovered a small stone. I stared at it resting in my palm. I could see it sparkle both red and green in the first visible sunrays of the dawn.

Before I could say anything, Natsuki spoke as she herself eyed the stone in my hand, “I found that when I was younger. My mother told me it was pretty rare to find an emerald and a ruby naturally fused together like that…I held on to it ever since, but I want you to have it. I know it’s not much but—”

We both broke our gaze from the stone to look at each other.

“Happy Birthday, Shizuru.”

I let out a small laugh, “How did you…I never told you when my birthday was...”

She simply shrugged, “I have my ways.”

“Elusive as ever,” I mocked as I gave her a soft elbow shot to the ribs before turning my attention back to the stone, “It really is beautiful though…”

Taking a small risk, I turned to her and wrapped my arms around her neck, pulling her into an embrace. Surprisingly she didn’t fight back in the least.

“Thank you, Natsuki,” I whispered into her ear.

Thank you…so much…

“Mmh.”

I could feel the tears beginning to form in my eyes as I held on to her a little longer than I needed to.

We sat in the cold, huddled beside each other as we watched the sun rise, but we didn’t feel the bitter winter air nipping at us.

Eventually we drove back to my apartment, both of us crashing on my bed as soon as we arrived, only bothering to shed our shoes and winter gear. We were only there for around thirty minutes before my alarm sounded. I immediately turned it off, but when I reluctantly tried to move to get up, I felt a hand lazily swipe at my arm, successfully latching onto a few of my fingers, and giving them a small tug.

“Un-uh…” came the sleepy muffled disapproval from the girl beside me who still had her eyes closed.

A loving smile appeared on my tired face, and with a shake of my head, I lied back down.

Despite it being the end of the term, we skipped school on this chilly December day together.